Type in Vita.SCEdevnet.com and you arrive at Sony's portal for Vita developers. Same with NGP.SCEdevnet.com, referencing the former codename for the Vita. The PS4 version of that address gets you nowhere. PS3 does, as does Orbis.SCEDev.net, though not to any Orbis-specific portions of the site.

While the official reveal of Sony's next home console could still be months away, if not longer, Kotaku has today learned some important details concerning the PlayStation 3's successor.

For one, the console's name—or at least its codename/working title—is apparently Orbis. And it's being planned for release in time for the 2013 holiday season.

The details in this story come from a reliable source who is not authorized to talk publicly about next-gen hardware but has shared correct information with us before. What they're telling us in specifics matches much of what we've heard and reported in generalities in recent weeks.

A Sony spokesperson declined to comment about these details, citing the company's policy not to comment on "rumors or speculation."

the good, specs/processor/visual output look awesome, southern island GPU would probably be a 7750-7770 or some sort of hybrid to shove into the smaller case:

CURRENT SPECS

Our main source supplied some basic specs for the console, but as the future is always in motion, bear in mind these could easily change between now and the Orbis' retail release. Still, if you'd like to know what developers are being told to plan for now, here you go.

AMD x64 CPU
AMD Southern Islands GPU

The former, that's largely something we've heard before, but the latter is interesting. That's the name given to many of AMD's 2012 roster of high-end PC cards. The PS4's GPU in particular, we're told, will be capable of displaying Orbis games at a resolution of up to 4096x2160, which is far in excess of the needs of most current HDTV sets. It'll also be capable of playing 3D games in 1080p (the PS3 could only safely manage 3D at 720p).

when?!:

NEXT YEAR

Our main source tell us that "select developers" have been receiving dev kits for the new console since the beginning of this year. Revised and improved versions of these kits were sent out around GDC, while more finalised beta units will be shipped to developers towards the end of 2012.

That should hopefully give developers plenty of time to have launch games ready for the Orbis' retail release, which will be in time for the 2013 holiday season. If you can remember the PS3 launch—it's OK if you can't, it was a while ago—that too was in time for the holiday shopping season (November 2006 for Japan and North America).

probably won't be able to have backwards compatability with PS3 :( and the worst part is just as speculated with the next xbox, they're trying to curb the used games and pirating BS, pushing us all into being a more cynical consumer/industry, i will miss just opening the wrapper and popping the CD in and playing immediately.

Here's how our main source says it's currently shaping up: new games for the system will be available one of two ways, either on a Blu-Ray disc or as a PSN download (yes, even full retail titles). If you buy the disc, it must be locked to a single PSN account, after which you can play the game, save the whole thing to your HDD, or peg it as "downloaded" in your account history and be free to download it at a later date.

Don't think you can simply buy the disc and stay offline, though; like many PC games these days, you'll need to have a PSN account and be online to even get the thing started.

If you then decide to trade that disc in, the pre-owned customer picking it up will be limited in what they can do. While our sources were unclear on how exactly the pre-owned customer side of things would work, it's believed used games will be limited to a trial mode or some other form of content restriction, with consumers having to pay a fee to unlock/register the full game.

This would allow used games to continue to be sold at outlets such as GameStop, while also appeasing major publishers who would no longer have to implement their own haphazard approaches to "online passes".

Skrilla
Interesting read. No ability to sell/buy a preowned full retail game version? Hmm, wonder what will happen with some retailers like ebgames, or even the consumer who currently has the ability to resell a game and not totally lose there ass. And i guarantee they will not be any cheaper.

Either way, early to tell I guess. Also what about rental companies like gamefly?

P_D
So what i got from this is there with be a new gran turismo in 2020

schocker
That pre-owned stuff is really dumb. I of course will get the next xbox and wait until the PS4 gets a price drop. I probably play my PS3 a few times a year now :rofl:

beecue
^ Same, I'm skipping Wii U and PS4 until it's like $150. I wonder if they finally added cross game and party chat.

takkyu
I really don't understand the industry motives on pre-owned games. They don't do this shit to books, music or movies, why video games?

dirtsniffer
HAHA my used books are worth sweet fuck all

n1zm0

Originally posted by takkyu I really don't understand the industry motives on pre-owned games. They don't do this shit to books, music or movies, why video games?

i went into Best Buy last weekend and got Fifa 12 for $40 - ran over to the new one - still $60, popped it in and began playing immediately no issues, granted i suck at it lol, but that's the greatest thing about the trade-in/used games portion of the industry - that sweet spot time not extremely far from release date that it was traded in for something else and i find it for -$20 in perfect working order. i plan on doing the same to find Operation Racoon City in a few weeks.